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13 July 2011

Race Car Of The Day - Maserati Quattroporte Superstars Racer

What is the Superstars Series? Well, it's a production-based touring car racing championship held since 2004.

The Superstars championship began as the Trofeo Nazionale ACI-CSAI, became the Italian championship in 2005 and added an international series in 2007. So what makes this series so different from other Touring Car series?

Only V8 engined production cars are eligible with the following basic characteristics:

Cars from Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Chrysler, Lexus, Audi, Cadillac, Jaguar, Chevrolet and Maserati are all represented on a packed grid that includes high-profile names such as Fabrizio Giovanardi, Johnny Herbert and Gianni Morbidelli.

Arguably the world’s fastest-growing touring car championship, the Superstars International Seriescontinues to go from strength-to-strength with top teams and drivers signing up to compete in the pan-European series.
Oral Engineering, the independent company directed by ex-Formula engineer Mauro Forghieri, makes sure that the cars’ performance is evened out by making specific modifications to each car. Work is carried out on each car, looking at the weight, the size of the engine air scoops, wings and spoilers. Superstars engine power usually varies from 450 bhp to 600 bhp.

A taster of the other cars in the series; kinda makes the BTCC look a weeny bit limp-wristed:

Now you have the skinny on the series, let's have a drool at one of it's most dashing incumbants, the Maserati Quattroporte. That's right bambini, the Trident gang (via a race outfit called Swiss Team) decided to use the foor-door over the GranTurismo coupe and having salivated over the pics for a good while, it would have been a good choice on shock value alone, never mind the fact that it looks mucho tuff to boot.

Race spec for the rear-drive Maserati includes a 4.2 litre V8 making over 450bhp in race trim.The weight, without the handicap due the use of a sequential gearbox (a rear-mounted Sadev item) is 1430 kg. Tyres are Pirelli, according to regulations. While the bodywork initially mirrored that of the road version with a few small aerodynamic changes, the car has since grown more muscular appendages to aid aerodynamics and cover the now-wider track. This is one 'Porte that would take the long route around a London-style 7-foot width restriction.